LADIES' GOSSIP.

Otago Witness, Issue 2242, 18 February 1897, Page 43

LADIES' GOSSIP.

• . • Aa the wife of the Lord Chancellor of j Ireland, Lady Ashbourne plajs a prominent ! part in Dublin society ; but it is in her Lon- ' don home in Gto<sv<inor Crescent, purchased j for her sp«oial use by her husband, that she ' is surrounded by her own personal property and farourite possessions. The story of the purohase of this house is quite a little romance. " I had a great fancy," Lady Asbbourne says, "to have a house actually my own, and bad of.iao jokingly remarked to my husband tbac, although we had sevsral places, I bad no ' home ' I So Lord Ashboume purohased the house and gave it to ma." - . * Latterly there has been an absurd craze in Indian society for a "surprise party." This new instrument of social torture consUts of asiitg a dozen or so of yonr friends to dinner or supper, us the case may be, and then oalmly intimating to them that aaoh one is expected to bring with him or her a portion of the dinner. One is told cflE to supply the ohampagne, another the icea, a third the soup, a fourth the oy«tere, and co on. Naturally this is a cheap method of entertaining yonr friends, but it has lifctle other recommendation. • . • The following description of the Queen's dress when she made her first visit to Scotland was given by a lady who well remembers the vidt and the excitement ifc caused : — Her Majesty was so delighted with Sootch hospitality and Scotch icenery that it j has beenher favourite resort during all the long I years of her relgc. Oa ihft occasion referred to_ ! she wore a. bright hla<}»i\k dross with a great;' j uncilift: of fl:uciC\2e o£ different depths, each j odged w*sn n*r/ow bkek velvet over a not i i. conci'ltrable crinoline. Above this brilliant j.'.vrmefit she wore a royal Stuart tartan shawl, s white chip cottage bonnet, trimmed with pink roses and blue ribbon bows, a white lace ] vei), and lemon-coloured kid gloves. She carried in her hand a small blue silk parasol', with a thick ailk fringe of the same sfeacte, a. white ivory handle and stiok, th6etiok being

divided into two pieces aod fastened with ft slide. liow fashions have dhenged in So yenrs 1 * . * The young King of Spain is very pale and delicate. It ia only In the Jaßt year ot ! two, indeed, th«t the Court phyviciaos have j given bis mother, the Quo^a Regent, any ; hope that Alfonso XIII would attain to manI hood. The King, who is in his eleventh year, has ah English governess, but ia said. to be rather slow in learning. • . • Paris, the city of extremes, the birth* place of feminine fashion and of personal adornment for the gentler sex the world over, hag Uurod our oredulity with a declaration that woman's waist has suddenly inCFeased by three or four inches. That ia to aay, the fashion makers have decided on an , increase, which is exactly the same thing. ! In seeking an explanation for a deoree whloh a few years ago would have horrißed the French capital and driven, the late lamented Worth to destruction or a maniac's cell, what do we find 1 That the inanimate bicycle has accomplished that which for- a generation hae been attempted in vain by medioal Boienoe and the record of disease and death.. •.• When King George of Greece was staying in Wiesbaden recently he notioed a window pane upon which his father, the King of Denmark, had out his name with a diamond. So he took of! his own diamond . . ring and engraved his name below his father*. A few hours afterwards tho Czfti'. saw the window, and immediately out hii . ! name. Then oanw the Kaiser, who added •' his name to thoie of the three royalties. A, -British diplomatist and an American mil« i lionaire are now said to be striving to outi bid each other in order to get possession of the illuminated pioos of glaw?o. • . • Marriage Is a prosaic affair in Oon■tantinoplo, being in moat oases purely a matttr of business. When a man reaches a. marriageable age his parent* make a list of houses where eligible young women are to ba found, and bi« mother callß at their resii denoes and it quires of each matron, " What oan your daughter do?" Whereupon embroideries are exhibited— among them always a rug — made by tha daughter's hands. Theso rugs are considered priceless heirlooms, and are never put upon the market. If the caller approves of these she taken them home to i her son ; if she does not she makes some I excuse and ptwaes on. If, on the other hand, ! the youDg man is not approved by the yourg lady's parents, they advise the good woman to go elsewheru. ',• The Queen has bean lamenting the death of Mrs Thuraton, who was nurse to most of her Majesty's children and nfter1 wards houaiek'eaper a,t Windsor U&sHe. Since j her retirement she had redded in Kenningj ton Palace, where sha wab frequently viaited jby memb«ra of tho Royal Family. She had i attained her eighty-ilxth year. The Queen ! and several priricen and princesses were i represented at tho funeral and sent wreaths. Prir.cosa Loufse LjersotiaHy attended a pre- , liminary service in Kensington Ohnrob, I w&lkißg up the aMe kshlnd chc coifln aa { chief mourner. I ■ . The sanatorium at aea is one o£ i.he newe&t ideas. A large stsjamer Byecially fitted for the accomm^datiau of invalids in need of fresh air and favourable climate is to bo constructed by a ship-owning association. The vassel is to be in constant employment for eight or aine months la tbe year, but for at lsasfc throe months out of the twelve she wiir go iato dook in order to be thoroughly cleansed and dtainfaoteri. It ia proponed to make this ateamer, which is to be the forerunner of a large fleet similarly equipped, a veritable floating palace in the matters of. both comfort ana salubrity. Although skilled advice and nursing will always he available, the accompaniments of a sanatorium will be > kept as much as possible in the background. The prominent idea to be carried out in this new departure ia the Isolation of a dangerous class with the least possible amount of discomfort to its merubfirs. Furthermore, by a judicioua timing of move*, the sufferers will j be uffordftd a ohaooe of recovery under the , most. Cavoursthle climatio condition*, v/hichit would ba difficult to oeoure otherwise. * . * K&iser and Kairarin inlon*. going to Jeiußaiem in 1898 at Esuter in order to be present nt the consecration of the new Evangelical churoh which bau hw.a built on the site giveu to the late Katow ICrederiek wbttn orown«d Priuoe, by T,b« Suit an, upon which an old churoh dating from the tL&ea • of the Orutadea /pemeriy atpod. ■.• Il was a v«y well-known London actor who pointed out to a writer in a London paper a quiet »hop in the very heart of the. West Bad, with tbeworde, "That is, in one sett&e.the bear known sham jewellery establish - meat in England? In further explanation, the ourioua fact wa« stated that at this shop any possible article of jewellery of tha ( genuine kind can be matched with a connter- ; feit, either at once or within a very few hours, : the counterfeit being moat admirable in quality and style, so that any ordinary person - knowing the original trinket could soarcely , discriminate between tbo two. Farther, the j sham articles are let out on hire ott a regular j scale, and the business done is Raid to be enormous, better-class people who intend pawning their jewellery flocking, as a preliminary, to the shop in qaestion to hire facsimile auhHtitutea. The writer sought; out

the proprietor of the establishment, and he, •whilst tolerably reticent, said : " Amongst a very respectable class I let out a vast — I say vaßt advisedly — quantity of imitation jewellery, this being chiefly hired by people who do not so much want to keep up their appearance before the world, though of course that is a strong factor, as to blind their own relations, parents who have given them presents, and so on." • . • The Japanese Prime Minister recently told Mr Raymond Blathwayt that the Empress of Japan bad been compelled to close the European schools for native women because education did not improve them. " I soon found," she said, " that when they learned European dancing and lost their old conventions, there was no knowing where they would stop." * . ■ The Dowager Empress of Russia is a Host philanthropic woman, and has been Instrumental in founding several hospitals erected by law. The Empress conceived the Idea that at every theatre a tax of 5 percent, should be paid on tickets sold. Tba money thus collected reverts to the hospitals. • . • The majority of women in France, as slsewhere, use the wheel. Society has adopted it. Not alone is cycling impossible where tight lacing exists — as shown by the special make now generally in use while npon the road — but the exercise of the wheel, "working upon the emancipated human frame, has opened the way to a novel sensation of complete apd most enjoyable freedom, and rendered subsequent abnormal lacing both uncomfortable and additionally perilous. The increase in health and strength — and the consequent added pleasurein life — Ss gradually convincing the ladies that reform in this matter is burdened with blessings of which they have never dreamed. Their mirrors, too, have told them that the greater freedom of the waist detracts not at all from the beauty of the figure. We cannot look for a return to the generous Grecian standard, but we can and do look for a positive modification of the wasp-like premium on disease and transmitted weakness. If the bicycle had done nothing more than this It would have amply justified Kb universal popularity as a factor in up-to-date existence. ' . * Burglars are the great terror of Madame Pattfs life at Craig-y-Nos Oaßtle, and she has had all the window shutters fitted with electric bells, which start riDging at the slightest touch, while by the same machinery a gun is fired, and a number of dogs are let loose in the grounds. Special watchmen are told off every night on " round " duty. • . • The height of luxurious travelling has been achieved by the Czarina. The Empress's private saloon carriage is entirely upholstered in rose-coloured satin, and is lighted throughout by electricity. The wheels of the 10 long compartments are covered with indiarubber tyres. The train is in charge of several officers of the royal household, who have injunctions to allow no one to enter it. • . • Queen Victoria has settled the Balmoral domain so that it will pais with the crown, as she is desirous that this place should become the Scotch residence of all future sovereigns. The castle is considered j to be one of the best example! of the true ! Scottish baronial style in the Highlands. • . ■ A singular custom was formerly in rogue in Kent and some other places in England. Instead of strewing sweet flowers in the pathway of a bride, emblems of the bridegroom's trade were liberally scattered In front of the happy pair. Thus a carpenter walked on shavingp, a shoemaker on leather parings, and a blacksmith on bits of old iron. ;. • Women who like to exhibit a neatlygloved hand are perhaps unaware that women of the stage who pride themselves on the appearance of their hands when ungloved, as well sb when encased in costly gloves, do not approve of pinching them with tight glove?. Madame Bernhardt and Miss Ellen Terry, who are famous for the beauty of their hands And arms, wear loDg, loose-wristed gloves. Next to wearing tight shoes and tight corsets, the habit of squeezing the hands into tight gloves is perhaps the most foolish of feminine weaknesses.* It is a well-known fact that women who possess the whitest and most beautiful hands always wear loose gloves. To keep the skin soft and pliable the blood must have perfectly free circulation, and this cannot be when the wrist is encircled with a merciless band of kid, and when thnmb and fingers are cramped into unnatural posi«pne.